This invention relates primarily to easels such as adapted for use by artists, students and others for painting, sketching and other purposes. In the past easels have been designed in many configurations and with many different types of structure which allow them to be folded or collapsed into a compact unit. Most of these units are complicated to manufacture and assemble due to the nature of the folding structure utilized. Also complicated structures have been used in order to give the pad holder units vertical adjustability. Another problem has resulted from the difficulty in folding the cross brace members into an adjacent position with the sleeves of the easel. Binding of the legs within the sleeve as they are telescoped together has also produced great dissatisfaction in the past. Additionally the structure for locking the legs to the sleeve members has been limited by the number of stop positions available for varying the height of the easel as set up.